1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to automatic and machine pistols and particularly to an impact buffer member for absorbing recoil energy and for reducing frame fatigue caused by the impact of the pistol slide.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various expedients have been used in an attempt to dampen the shock impact when a pistol has been fired. For example: U.S. Pat. No. 1,646,699 shows a disc of fiber attached to a frame of a firearm by means of a screw. U.S. Pat. No. 3,756,121 shows a combination guide rod and recoil buffer made of nylon resins. U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,352 shows a resilient cap mounted on recoil springs. U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,107 shows a shock-absorbing mechanism including a pair of rigid plates positioned on opposite sides of a resilient sheet of energy dissipating material such as polypropylene. U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,689 discloses a plastic spring guide made of an acetal resin thermoplastic polymer made by the polymerization of formaldehyde. While such previous shock absorbing means may have been successful when exposed to reasonable recoil impacts, materials previously selected have not been able to withstand the high temperatures and pressures of modern automatic and machine pistols.
In the design of automatic and machine pistols, particularly where concealment is critical, space limitations and material availability has made it impractical to include anything but a minimal buffering system. The conventional weapons designs used today have a higher rate of recoil and metal fatigue due to various types of alloys and ammunition, weight of bullet, or types of propellant, or both now being utilized in this art.
This recoil of parts, such as the slide of a pistol or the bolt of a machine pistol results in the pounding of metal abutments out of shape and in some weapons metal fatigue and complete failure, causing the weapon to become inoperative or resulting in total failure of parts causing the weapon to crack or destruct without warning. This problem has resulted in numerous buffer recoil designs which have attempted to provide adequate dispersion of recoil energy without creation of a bulky or costly manufacturing process during original weapon design. It has also created numerous add-on designs to reduce recoil or weapon parts fatigue after the weapon has been put into service, the result being that these conventional shock absorber type systems do not generally provide the recoil impact reduction necessary to stop these occurrences.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a compact means for buffering recoil energy in automatic pistols and machine pistols.
Another object is to provide a buffering means which may be incorporated in new pistols or may be retrofitted to existing pistols.
A further object is to provide a buffering means which is relatively inexpensive, easy to manufacture, and easily installed.